


the lost city

by Rehearsal_Dweller



Series: Near Miss AU [15]
Category: Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: F/M, Modern AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-30
Updated: 2020-06-30
Packaged: 2021-03-04 18:27:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25000888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rehearsal_Dweller/pseuds/Rehearsal_Dweller
Summary: Les invites his girlfriend over for family movie night.
Relationships: David Jacobs/Jack Kelly, Les Jacobs/OC
Series: Near Miss AU [15]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1735408
Comments: 32
Kudos: 78





	the lost city

**Author's Note:**

> I am DETERMINED to write fluffy, sweet things.

“Hey, Maebh?” Les says, feeling slightly nervous although he can’t place why. “You busy Friday?”

“No, why?” Maebh replies. She tucks herself against Les’s side, under his arm. “You inviting me to some wild college party?”

Les laughs. “Oh, yeah, definitely. With my brother, his fiancé, and some first graders.”

“That so?” says Maebh.

“We have a movie night as a family every Friday,” Les says. “I was hoping you might want to come?”

Maebh stops in her tracks, which pulls Les to a stop, too. “Really?”

“Uh, yeah,” says Les. “Do you not –“

“No, I do, I do!” says Maebh. They start walking again. “It’s just, like, I know I met your brothers in passing on our first date, but not for real, you know? This feels like, like, meeting the parents.”

“You know that I _have_ parents still, right?” Les says with a half laugh.

“Yeah,” Maebh replies, rolling her eyes, “but I’ve known you a long time, Les Jacobs. I know there are reasons you live with David besides what you always say.”

Les hums. “There are.”

“I don’t need you to tell me what they are, or anything,” Maebh continues. “I’m just saying, you live with David and David is _important_ to you. So, like, I recognize how important it is that you want me to really meet him and the rest of your family.”

“Maebh, I –“ Les starts. He sighs, squeezing her close. _Yes_ , that’s exactly why he was nervous. “Yes. This is kind of a big deal. Is that okay?”

“It’s definitely okay,” says Maebh. “Is it okay with you?”

“It’s definitely okay,” Les echoes. “My niece is dying to meet you, actually.”

“Is she now?” Maebh asks, grinning with her dimples showing in full force.

“I’m not sure she actually believes you exist,” Les admits.

Maebh laughs, clinging to Les to stay upright. “Oh, god, of course she doesn’t. You’re a disaster! Why would she?”

“Oh, you don’t have to come you know,” says Les, playing offended.

“Get down here a minute,” Maebh says, still giggling. Les obliges, leaning down just far enough for Maebh to pop onto tiptoe and kiss him on the cheek. “I know you have your reasons for not dating much, sweetheart, I’m only teasing.”

“I know,” Les says. “It’s alright. You don’t have to backtrack like that, Mae, I can handle it. I haven’t changed.”

They’re still feeling out the differences between their friendship and their romantic relationship, but Les does not want Maebh to feel like she can’t tease him anymore. The ease of conversation and playful teasing with Maebh is one of the things Les loves about her.

“I know,” Maebh says. “I just don’t want to push too far.”

“You never have before.”

“It’s different now.”

“Is it?”

“I don’t know.”

“It doesn’t have to be.”

“I know.”

They fall silent for a moment.

“So, Friday?” Les says, hoping to steer the conversation back to normal. “Are you free?”

“Yeah,” says Maebh. “Just tell me when, I’ll be there.”

\--

The doorbell rings.

“I’ll get it!” Les calls, but he’s in Leah’s room and David is in the living room, so Les does not get it.

The girlfriend looks pretty much how David remembers her from her last visit to the apartment – just over five feet, with dark hair braided neatly and swept over her shoulder, a nervous smile on her face.

“Hi,” she says. “David?”

“That’s me,” David replies. “Come on in, Maebh. Make yourself at home.”

He steps out of the doorway and Maebh follows him into the living room, just as Les comes running out of Leah’s room, skidding on the hardwood in his socks. “Mae!”

Maebh giggles. “Hey, dummy. You told me seven, and you didn’t even have the decency to be the one to answer the door.”

“I _said_ I would _get it!”_ Les says, just this side of a whine.

“What, and left her waiting on the doorstep?” says David, laughing. “I was right here.”

“Da _vey_ ,” says Les.

“Les, why don’t you introduce Maebh to the kids?” David suggests. “I’m going to go grab Jack from next door and then we can start the movie, okay?”

“Great,” Les says.

David doesn’t wait for Les to lead Maebh out of the room before leaving – he knows by stepping out he’s giving them a moment to themselves, both to greet each other however they see fit and to prepare mentally for tonight. He crosses the hall, walking right into the Higgins-Conlons’ place without knocking.

“Hey, Jackie, the – what are you three doing?”

Jack, Sean, and Tony are sitting on the floor amidst a sea of Legos and plastic bags.

“What does it look like?” says Tony.

“I – what set is this?”

“It’s the Millenium Falcon,” Sean says, holding the box up. “It’s – this is an investment. It’s going to take up our entire living room for approximately the next hundred years.”

“It has like thirteen hundred pieces!” Jack says brightly.

“Okay,” says David. “Jack, did you forget that tonight’s movie night? The movie night with _Les’s girlfriend_?”

“Right!” Jack jumps up, taking care to pick through the field of Lego to reach David. He gives David a quick kiss. “Shall we go embarrass the kid?”

“I thought you’d never ask,” says David.

That’s about enough time for Les and Maebh anyway. They’re in David’s living room, they’d better not be getting up to anything too dramatic.

When they get back to the Jacobs-Kelly apartment, Les and Maebh are in the kitchen working on treats and cocoa, while Leah and Frankie set up the audience.

“Oh, hey,” Les says as they come in. “Mae, c’mere a sec.” He brings her around the peninsula so she can actually stand face-to-face with his brothers. “You met David earlier, obviously, but this is Jack.”

“Nice to meet you,” Maebh says, shaking Jack’s hand.

“You too,” says Jack. “You treatin’ our kid right?”

Maebh laughs. “Wow, this really is meeting the parents, isn’t it?”

David is slightly startled – both by her words and the casual way she says them like it’s something she and Les have talked about before – but smiles. “We have a responsibility to look out for him. He’s my baby brother, you know?”

“Of course,” says Maebh. “Les is lucky to have such a good support system at home.”

“Oh, she’s a charmer,” Jack says in a stage whisper to Les.

“I do try,” Maebh says.

David looks over at Leah and Frankie, who have set up an impressive array of dolls and also Lightning McQueen and Cruz Ramirez. “Hey, kids, what are we watching?”

“Atlantiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis!” Leah cheers.

“I thought Atlantis was scary, Bee?” Jack says, crossing the room to sit down on the couch behind the kids.

“It’s _so_ scary,” says Leah. “But Kida is so pretty and the glowing is so cool?”

“Oh, man, I am right there with you, kiddo,” Maebh says.

They settle in. The kids camp out on the floor with the rest of the audience – after lovingly introducing Maebh to the crowd – and their cocoa. David and Jack take their usual seat on the couch, although a little more off to one side to make a little extra room for one or both of the college kids.

Neither Les nor Maebh takes the open seat, though. They opt instead to share Les’s usual chair. It’s just wide enough that Maebh can sit at an angle to Les, her legs draped across his but her weight not actually resting on him. The way she’s wedged between Les and the arm of the chair, she’s actually sitting a little closer to Les’s height, and they have their heads together, chatting quietly.

(It’s _familiar_ , in a way that makes David’s heart ache for something he tries very hard to tell himself he doesn’t miss. He pushes the feeling aside and shifts a little closer to Jack.)

They watch the movie. Leah and Frankie inevitably find their way up onto the couch with Jack and David, because they get to the part where the crew betrays Milo and it starts getting scary and both kids just want a little comfort. David is still tucked comfortably against Jack’s side, but now they have Frankie sitting across their laps and Leah curled up under David’s free arm. It’s delightfully domestic, and David has a warm, content feeling in his chest. He lets his head fall onto Jack’s shoulder.

He steals a glance over at Les and Maebh, who are that much more intertwined for having been sitting together for an hour and a half. Les has an arm wrapped around Maebh’s waist, and she’s curled a little closer around him, holding his other hand in one of hers. It’s very sweet, and while close it’s nothing he has a problem with in the living room in front of the kids. They’re just holding each other, and it looks like Maebh might be starting to nod off.

The movie ends, and David looks down at his daughter. Her eyes are wide, and she’s half-hiding behind him, his shirt clutched in her little hands. “You good, baby girl?”

“Yeah, I’m a big kid,” says Leah. “I closed my eyes at the part where the guy turns into a monster.”

David chuckles. “Good call, Bean. Alright, bedtime for kiddos.”

“I’m not even –“ Frankie yawns – “ _sleepy_.”

“Sure you aren’t, Cesco,” Jack says fondly. He kisses the top of Frankie’s head, collecting his nephew in his arms.

David scoops up his daughter. “Is bedtime less distasteful if it’s a sleepover night?”

“Sleepover!” Leah cheers.

“That’s what I thought,” says David. He and Jack take the kids back towards Leah’s room to get them ready for bed. For once there is no argument over pajamas, because Leah and Frankie have matching sleepover jammas that they are more than happy to dig out of the dresser.

Jack and David supervise tooth brushing and tell one story each – a special treat because Frankie is over, one story per kid. They take their time, giving Les and Maebh a little bit of space.

When they come back into the main space of the apartment, Les and Maebh are standing by the door, talking quietly.

“Heading out so soon?” Jack says, leaning against the kitchen counter.

“Early morning tomorrow,” Les says.

“Go Newsies,” Maebh adds, grinning.

David meets Les’s eye for a moment, before shifting his gaze to Maebh. “You’d be welcome to stay the night if you’d like, Maebh. Since you and Les are going to the same place tomorrow anyway.”

Maebh goes slightly pink, glancing up at Les. “Thanks, but, uh. I wouldn’t want to impose.”

“You wouldn’t be,” Les says quickly. “But you, uh, you don’t have to –“

“We’re going to call it a night,” Jack says, slipping an arm around David. “It was nice meeting you, Maebh. I’m sure we’ll see you around.”

David nods, and the two of them head into their bedroom.

“You think she’ll stay?” Jack asks as they change into pajamas.

“I think we won’t know if she does,” says David. They’d brushed their teeth when the kids did. “Les always leaves so early for kickball, and she doesn’t have her uniform with her.”

“I don’t know if you can really consider the t-shirts they wear a uniform,” Jack says, laughing.

“Les takes it _very_ seriously.”

“Oh, I know.”

\--

“Are you sure it’s alright if I stay?” Maebh asks, her eyes on the now closed door to Jack and David’s bedroom.

“David wouldn’t have offered if it weren’t,” says Les. “But like I said, don’t feel obligated or anything – we don’t have a guest room or anything, you’d be stuck on the pull-out couch with me.”

Maebh smiles. “Well, I don’t really mind _that_.”

And that’s that, really. Les sets his alarms a little earlier than usual, so that they can swing by Maebh’s before kickball, and he digs out a new toothbrush from the package in the bottom drawer for her to use. He throws on his least embarrassing pajamas and pulls the bed out while Maebh brushes her teeth.

They pause at the point of actually getting into bed together.

“Do you have a side preference?” Les asks.

Maebh shrugs. “I don’t mind one way or another – it’s your bed, you choose.”

There’s a little bit of maneuvering and rearrangement before they find something comfortable. They start out just laying next to each other, staring up at the ceiling, but it doesn’t take long for them to gravitate to each other, with Maebh’s arm across Les’s torso, and Les’s wrapped around her back. His cheek is pressed against her forehead.

It’s very grounding, comforting.

“I’ve been terrified of dating,” Les says quietly. “Of, like, falling in love and stuff.”

Maebh hums. “Are you still?”

“A little,” admits Les. “It means a lot to me that David likes you, though. He’s protective. He’s afraid for me, too.”

“Does he?” says Maebh. “Like me? He’s a little hard to read.”

“You’re here, aren’t you?” Les says. “If he thought you were going to hurt me, he wouldn’t encourage _this_.” He lifts the hand that’s around Maebh’s shoulders to gesture to the way they’re entangled.

“I don’t plan on hurting you.”

“I know. I don’t plan on hurting you, either. Sometimes it can’t be helped.”

“Sometimes it can’t. We just have to keep choosing to try to take care of each other.”

Les kisses Maebh’s forehead. “I want that with you.”

“I do, too,” Maebh says.

\--

Jack wakes up early – way, way, early – the next morning. He’s dying for some water, so he carefully slips out of bed, trying not to disturb his still-sleeping fiancé.

He creeps into the kitchen, trying to be as quiet as possible. It’s always a bit of a spy mission, getting water in the middle of the night. Les is a pretty light sleeper, and he happens to sleep in what is functionally the same room as the kitchen sink.

Jack just barely turns the tap on, accepting the fact that it’s going to take about six years to fill his glass at this rate, and glances over at the couch to make sure he hasn’t woken Les.

He hasn’t. But Les probably wouldn’t notice if he’d driven a motorcycle through the living room, with how tightly he’s tangled up with Maebh. It’s almost painfully cute, and Jack smiles all the way back into the other room.

He’s got a good feeling about these two.


End file.
